In fact, making your logo bigger can sometimes distract an audience from the company’s message. Less is more, and white space is your ally!
To all our lovely customers, we want to take the opportunity to poke fun – Enjoy this following video!
Entrepreneurs often seek us out at Hucul Printing when they want to order an assortment of printed supplies for their new business operations.
Many new business owners are confused about which products would serve their needs the best. We can help them sort out what would be necessary in their starting out phases.
There are a few essential items that every business needs. After that, the needs vary widely depending on the nature of the business.
The humble business card is the first printing service we would recommend for you. Business cards are the customer, partner and supplier gateways into your business.
Even the lawn boy needs business cards for those looking to buy his service.
The business card should have only the essential information. Name, contact information, email and website. A business card is not a pamphlet.
If people want to learn more about you, your product, or your services, they should have the ease of going to your website, (provided on your business card).
With the more detailed nature of your pamphlet, rack card, or brochure…your customer can reach for them and take a little more time to read about your business.
These three: Pamphlets, Rack Cards, Brochures, are really tiny billboards, also used as sales advertisements . They are a quick and effective way to get your valued presentation of your company descriptions & products, across to your prospective business
Even business to business service companies should have this kind of printed product (if not, a comprehensive Presentation Folder, for sure).
Every business has something to sell; you should have an effective way of selling it in a physical printed form.
Even Google, … the ubiquitous online Giant, has printed pamphlets for it’s customers.
Next you need to sell our business attributes through your correspondence with your customers and clients. This is where each business begins to vary between their individual needs and the exact nature of your printed product depends on the business needs.
For bills, invoices and receipts, your accounting software might be able to imprint your logo and information on the paper for you. However, sometimes you need pre-printed letterhead to feed into your printer for a consistent and professional appearance.
If you are a business on the road, you may need to hand write your quotes, invoices and receipts, in which case you would need books of carbonless, printed invoices that include your businesses logo and information already printed and available. This would provide your customer with a copy, and would leave you a copy for your records. In some cases, you might need 3 copies, depending on how your company is structured. Numbering on these quotes, invoices, receipts … etc, might be necessary to be done on the Pressman’s Numbering machines in the pressroom.
Regardless of how you correspond with your customers, you need to have your logo and contact information attached to those touch points ….the items you need to have printed
Depending on your business system, you may need to develop specialized and additional printed products to help organize and streamline your unique business’s day-to-day work flow. You may need internal NCR (carbonless) forms for work orders, order forms, receipts and messages. You might also need job dockets and file folders printed, if this is how your office procedure dictates. All of these need special attention to detail and design to make sure that all of the details of your work can be useful to you and your company.
When you start to get serious about your business, this is where custom printing becomes a major component of your operations. This is where you are at an advantage by making a commercial printer, as a working partner, in business.
Come down to Hucul Printing and get us in the loop. You will see that we only wish to help you succeed and become long term partners with you. Our low pressure office environment will help you confidently make sound decisions that are right for you and the good of your business.
Contact us here or stop on by!
Every business has business cards (and if you don’t, you should), and in the day-to-day grind in your shop their place is usually sitting at the front counter, dormant and inactive.
Photo by Robert Scoble
This is a good place to keep them when your customers are in the context of being in your shop.
But what about that situation where you are outside your business, one-on-one, at a networking event?
How do you actually use your business cards? When is it appropriate to exchange them?
Let me tell you.
When it comes to social business settings, business cards should be handed out with care. You should consider them as an option, if you are asked for it.
If you have a stimulating conversation about your business and the person you are speaking with is genuinely interested in your services, then they will ASK for it.
You should not wander around the room dealing out your deck of business cards like a Black Jack dealer in Vegas.
How annoying would it be if someone jammed a business card in your hand and then just quickly walked away and onto the next guy?
You would feel awkward and annoyed…wondering, ‘ What do I do with this?!’
If you meet somebody who’s services you want to use, the best thing you could do would be to ask them for their contact information.
That is polite and it will allow you to make the next call. It would not be polite to offer up your card and ask them to contact you!
That puts an unwanted obligation on them and they are as busy as you.
Also, if you do this, you have no control over whether or not you connect in the future.
Photo by Sean Narvasa
I know it’s a really easy way to end a conversation by asking for a business card, however do your best to avoid collecting cards from people you have no intention of contacting later.
Collecting cards may seem productive at the time, however your purpose in a networking event is to make personal connections with potential business partners, not to collect people’s info. If you wanted to collect people’s info, save yourself the hassle and go to LinkedIn. It’s easier to find people on that platform than randomly at an event.
Make you conversations count!
Remember business cards in networking events serve as a convenient way to respond to a request for your contact information, not as a tool to promote yourself to everyone you meet.
When I was in business school, I attended regular networking events where business professionals, free-lancers, and students mingled together, conversing about projects and business ideas. In this environment, we learned the social skills of being polite and courteous, and the value of exchanging our personal information. If we were colleagues, this was easy; we passed each other our smart phones. However, exchanging information this way lacked sophistication and we needed to exchange information in a more traditional and professional way.
Naturally, the next best thing would be to hand out business cards. Business cards are a great way share your contact information and also advertize your personal brand. Passing out business cards is standard at business networking events like the Business After 5 networking events, and other such business meetings. But what about those semi-casual events where you are actually more interested in meeting people for pleasure and it isn’t quite the setting to represent your company by handing out your Business card?
Calling Cards are a fantastic alternative to the Business Card …especially when you want to present your more casual side and still be regarded as prepared and professional. Calling Cards might include your personal email and email address and maybe even your social media profile links, and your cell #, in some cases. This allows your new acquaintance the opportunity to connect with you online and offline at their pleasure.
Sometimes, we just want to be ourselves and Personal cards are great for sharing information with people you meet, without seeming to be a “company man (or woman)”. Personal cards support our personal brands and gives us the opportunity to professionally share our contact information. Sometimes, handing over a corporate Business Card is overkill, and scribbling contact information hurriedly on a dinner napkin, looks desperate and awkward! If you are interested in exploring Personal Cards for yourself, stop by Hucul Printing so we can discuss the possibilities with you.